Bhoywonder

Just been reading through a few threads and it appears this subject is quite popular.
I thought it would be a good idea for people contemplating both options to read peoples experiences with different aged children.

We travelled direct with a 15 month old and thought it best to get over and done with in one shot. Jet lag was an issue that I worried about with the little one but I shouldn't have bothered. We went for a nap a few hours after we arrived and then saw out the rest of the day. We had one night of being out of sorts and then a couple of days of being tired. We were very surprised how little jet lag we suffered.
I still stand by our choice of flying direct. If a holiday is the reason for stopping off then fair enough but it the reason is jet lag I wouldn't bother, have a holiday at this end.

Hope this helps.

mand8002

We too flew direct and would definitely do it again. We literally stepped off the first plane and onto the second. I thought it might have been too much but found it ok, probably cos you are in travel mode and just accept it will be a long journey. Also so tired that we slept a lot of the second flight.Having said that when we come back from our trip to UK we are having 3 days in Singapore but that is purely because we want to see Singapore. I suppose there are pros and cons for both ways.

Hutch

No way I'd do it without a stop-over. We always spend a night or two in Kuala Lumpar or Hong Kong when we fly out - our son's nearly four and there's no way I'd inflict that kind of tedium on him. We get off the plane, into a nearby hotel, grab shower and some food, watch a bit of telly, go for a bit of walk and then get some shut-eye in a comfortable bed.

foxychic

Have done it both with and without a stopover. With 2 small kids (2&4) would only stop over again if I had extra help (ie parents) or if it was for a number or days 3-4, as found it hard with suitcases, transfers, keeping them happy. Was better when we went straight through, more boring but less stressful.

Zan

Have done the trip quite a few times with 1 to 2 children aged from a few months to 3 (depending on the trip). Have done it with and without a stopover and would always do the stopover in future. I find that 2 nights gives a nice break (a chance to see a new place), kills the jetlag and also means you then do 2 night flights so the kids sleep all the flights. No bored, fractious toddlers needing entertaining or keeping others awake.
Zan

pootle26

we have done it both ways

on the way out we went straight through - found it really tiring & seemed to take at least a week to get into a routine

on the way back we stayed in kuala lumpur for 3 nights - this was much better - the kids are older - 10, 9 & 9 so they enjoyed petronas towers & other distractions

on our o/w trip we stopped in hong kong for 5 days - lots for the kids to do & see - once we arrivedin OZ we were ready to hit the ground running so to speak & we were able to get a lot of things organised before had to start work

given the choice i would do a stopover - hotels are reasonable & you arrive in a much better state of mind - its really hard to try & organise things such as the medicare forms/ finding house/ etc when your brain is not frazzled!!

hth
pootle26

Bhoywonder

BUMP.......BUMP

just in case people don't get down the pages

Three Legs

We stopped in KL on the way over back in February ... never again.

Our two boys aged 2 and 6 months slept the majority of the first sector flight where as we never and on arrival at our hotel all me and Mrs Three Legs wanted to do was flake out ...

Guess who didn't ???

The jet lag / time difference messed it up for us all for the first three days of the holiday.

It's straight through one way for us next time.

Three Legs